It’s Your Call: Will Reform Happen?

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Yesterday in DC, opponents of health care reform gathered to wave signs and chant their claims that they are more patriotic than those who want to provide decent, affordable and ethical health care to their countrymen.

As Tool Academy standout and Matthew Shepard denier Virginia Foxx looked on, House Minority Leader, John Boehner, got a semi as he blustered about his founding fathers. He then proudly recited a passage from his traveler’s edition of the Constitution, which he must have dug out of the bottom of a box of cereal... patriotism is fine, but Boehner was quoting the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution.

Instead of correcting him, Representative Michele Bachmann just read along with him beside Foxx, as other more-patriotic-than-thou Republican representatives stood behind him.

Would I have known the difference had I not been alerted to the blunder? No, because when I was learning those things in public school I’d just been diagnosed with HIV and given less than two years to live. (That timeline may not hold up under serious scrutiny: editor’s note, editor being Shawn Decker.)

In this month’s Poz magazine, I wrote a column on why I support this measure and that something tangible needs to be done on this issue. You can read more personal stories here. I don’t think you have to have been born with a medical condition or know the difference between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence to understand that this is the issue of the day, and today is the day to act. Tomorrow the House votes on health care reform.